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Hi there, I was wondering if anyone has separated/broken up dies that are joined by those thin strips of steel? I just got quite a few of the dies and found that with some e.g. the straight bottomed clouds that I want to cut each cloud from a separate piece of paper. I decided to go ahead and cut the strips to separate the clouds - I used a pair of Kai scissors and it did the job. The bits of metal sticking out are a bit sharp so they probably need filing with a metal file. Anyway - has anyone else done this and if so, do you have any advice?
I actually just bent mine back and forth until they snapped apart. I didn't bother to trim the bits hanging off- but yes, you're right, they are sharp.
I just bent the connecting metal back and forth until it separated and cut the other part with a wire cutter. I did file down the sharp edges. I save the packaging and use a magnetic 'business' card to keep the small pieces from getting lost.
I figured that I now own the dies so I can do what I want with them. I also cut up stamps I have bought to separate portions I want to use separately.
There's actually instruction videos for some of these dies on YouTube and the reps are breaking them apart. The one I recall is the one that looks like a snow globe. The circle separates from the base to be two individual parts.
__________________ Leslie Harnish
Sambro, Nova Scotia
Canada
Yup! I just wiggle wiggle wiggle them and they pop apart, some have sharper/longer pieces left and the hardest I have had to do was the Christmas ornament set, but wiggle wiggle wiggle... SEVERAL times as there are a LOT of dies to that gorgeous beauty!!!!
The first dies I got from MFT (snowflake/hearts) were all solid and I had my husband take tin snips and cut them apart the filed them down!
I just bent the connecting metal back and forth until it separated and cut the other part with a wire cutter. I did file down the sharp edges. I save the packaging and use a magnetic 'business' card to keep the small pieces from getting lost.
I figured that I now own the dies so I can do what I want with them. I also cut up stamps I have bought to separate portions I want to use separately.
I just bent the connecting metal back and forth until it separated and cut the other part with a wire cutter. I did file down the sharp edges. I save the packaging and use a magnetic 'business' card to keep the small pieces from getting lost.
I figured that I now own the dies so I can do what I want with them. I also cut up stamps I have bought to separate portions I want to use separately.
I know 'gasp!!!'. lol
Me, too! My BFF (a stamp purist - can't bear to break up sets, un-mount from wood blocks, obsesses about a wrinkle in a sticker or a stain on a block, etc.) puts me on the list of those who "rape and pillage", I do believe! She's fairly horrified at some of my actions...
I don't own any of these dies (yet), but I'm sure I'd be separating the pieces/parts just like you're doing!
I was just searching for scissors to cut apart the dies that come as one set. I didn't think of wire cutters! I'm also one who doesn't always clean their stamps.:shock: I mean, if I have to use it right away I will, but if not, I'm a barbarian.
I use wire-cutters. The very small, very sharp kind that they sell for jewelry making. They need to be flush-cutting, not the diagonal cutters that are in hardware stores. And they need to be thin, not thick, clunky things.
These are the ones that I have, but many companies have them.
I use wire snips and still get some edges. Hubby bought me a set of small files......I think at Lowe's.........a flat one, a round one, domed one, triangular one.........if I cut my dies apart I file the edges while I'm watching TV...........it's almost theraputic!!!
I was frustrated with little leaves that were on the same flat piece of metal so I bought 'manly' tin snips from Home Depot. Much bigger and stronger than my jewelry-making wire cutter.
I even use this big tool for cutting off the tiny stubs of metal left when you do the bendy thing to get dies apart. VERY EASY.
I also break those dies up, since I usually only want to cut certain die shapes out at a time. I bend them back and forth until they break apart, but some of them are connected in such a way that you can't bend them. So then I use wire cutters. I use the wire-cutters to snip off those little sharp nubs too.
Separating MFT Die-namics?
